French & Saunders
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders emerged out of the boom in Alternative Comedy, appearing as a double act in The Comic Strip live show alongside Rik Mayall & Adrian Edmondson (20th Century Coyote) and Nigel Planer and Peter Richardson (The Outer Limits). After The Comic Strip had its first run on Channel 4 (indeed on the inaugural night of Channel 4), French and Saunders were given their own sketch show by the BBC in 1987.
Written and starring Dawn & Jennifer, they were initially produced (and then produced and directed) by Geoff Posner, and quickly snowballed in popularity, not least for the film parodies, and such classics as the schoolgirls and the little fishes sketch and the over-keen-to-get-on-screen Grandstand background typists. And then there were the Two Fat Men... The theme music was originally provided by Simon Brint and Roland Rivron as a hideously ugly pub combo called “Raw Sex”.
Each show also featured a Special Guest as themselves, such as Alison Moyet, Michael Grade and Roy Castle, something which was deemed daring and radical at the time, but thanks to French & Saunders has now gone on to become a staple source of comic cross-referentiality in modern sketch shows.
French & Saunders
Series 1
Show 1
First Tx 9/3/87 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
Madame | Betty Marsden |
Quick Nose Courier | Derek Lyons |
with | Christine Mackie |
Steve Rider | |
Marcia Tucker | |
and special guest | Alison Moyet |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 2
First Tx 16/3/87 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
with | Elaine Ford |
Jon Glover | |
Crispin Letts | |
Christine Mackie | |
Oscar Quitak | |
Marcia Tucker | |
and special guest | Roy Castle |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Directed by | Kevin Bishop (director) |
Produced by | Geoff Posner |
Show 3
First Tx 23/3/87 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
Cass Allen | |
Pamela Cundell | |
Sharron Davies | |
June Ellis | |
Hilda Fenemore | |
Allan Hargreaves | |
Christine Mackie | |
Marcia Tucker | |
and special guest | Julie T. Wallace |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 4
First Tx 30/3/87 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
Carmen Singers | Gordon Christie |
Dinah Harris | |
Angela Hickey | |
Beryl Korman | |
Howard Milner | |
and | Terry Bradford |
Tom Fahy | |
Jane Findlay | |
Richard Lloyd-Morgan | |
and special guest | Michael Grade |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 5
First Tx 6/4/87 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Pamela Armstrong |
Olwyn Atkinson | |
Rupert Bates | |
Eric Carte | |
Ina Clare | |
June Easther | |
Caroline Haig | |
Roberta Hamond | |
The Hot Hoofers | |
Vivienne Jay | |
Peter Johnstone | |
Trevor Leighton | |
Martin Muncaster | |
Nina Myskow | |
Peter Wear | |
and special guests | Jools Holland |
Rik Mayall | |
Harry Enfield | |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 6
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Christine Mackie |
Harriet Thorpe | |
Marcia Tucker | |
and special guest | Joan Armatrading |
Costume Designer | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Series 2
Show 1
First Tx 4/3/88 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and special guests | Joan Bakewell |
Squeeze | |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 2
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Terrance Conder |
Terry Molloy | |
Steve O’Donnell | |
Dawn Reddall | |
Louisa Rix | |
Samantha Spencer-Lane | |
and special guest | Toyah Willcox |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 3
First Tx 18/3/88 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Helen Lederer |
Sue Jones-Davies | |
Clive Panto | |
and special guest | Kirsty McColl |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 4
First Tx 25/3/88 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Ian Sears |
and special guest | Ben Elton |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 5
First Tx 8/4/88 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
Doreena Petherbridge | Stephanie Beacham |
as herself | Sarah Greene |
and special guests | The Proclaimers |
Adrian Edmondson | |
Lenny Henry | |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
Show 6
First Tx 15/4/88 BBC Two 21.00 - 21.30
Starring | Dawn French |
& | Jennifer Saunders |
with | |
Ken Bishop (Raw Sex) | Simon Brint |
Duane Bishop (Raw Sex) | Roland Rivron |
and | Sharon Boyce |
Dawn Reddall | |
Samantha Spencer-Lane | |
and special guests | Robbie Coltrane |
June Whitfield | |
Lulu | |
Written by | Dawn French |
Jennifer Saunders | |
Produced & directed by | Geoff Posner |
French & Saunders
Well, French & Saunders have their own official website, and quite right too. Here's the link
As well as tour details, news, archive and all that jazz, it's got links through to where you can get DVDs of all their work.
Or click here to read the BBC comedy guide to French and Saunders